LGBT movement – Carwil without Borders

Los Cobocitos, a weekly segment in the Cochabamba daily newspaper Opinión, features a cartoon- and story-filled introduction to queerness of all ages. Co-produced by Bolivia’s Human Rights Ombudsman (Defensoría del Pueblo) and Unicef, it celebrates June 28 as International LGBT Pride day. It features drawings by kids against homophobia, stories of same-sex couples in their own words, and an explanation of the constitutional rights to equality for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in Bolivia’s 2009 Constitution and its general antidiscrimination law. (The constitution does, however, define marriage as between one man and one woman.) There’s also encouragement to teachers to give “rapid and natural responses” when they hear anti-gay myths and a reminder to parents that “There are some moms and dads who think that if they avoid the issue, their children were be less likely to be homosexual and that’s not true. It’s the parents who need to inform themselves and break the chain of silence.” Didactic? Yes, but still adorable.

Marriage is a political binding spell. It obliges the state to not ask you to testify against one another, the boss who doesn’t respect your love to provide health care for your partner, the florist and the venue owner to treat you equally, the immigration inspector to see you as family. No love should be denied these powers.

And,

These protections should be spread far more widely. Collectivities of dissent should be spared grand juries. Health care should be for all, gay or straight; married or single; salaried, waged, or unemployed. Love in all its forms should be regarded as a blessing, celebrated by neighbors and friends, and honored by strangers. People should find their homes regardless of borders.

This week’s demands on marriage equality are just small asks compared to these. But they’re so easy to say yes to.

I don’t usually repost my comments in the world of social media, but since a couple people asked… I live between a circle that has come to celebrate LGBT equality, with this week’s cases as a big symbol, and a circle where the priority of marriage for LGBT movements has long been rightly questioned. I hope this very short piece challenges people in the first circle to expand their demands and visions, and those in the second circle to embrace the limited but daring requests being put forward this week.

p.s. See also: Caitlin Breedlove, Thoughts on the Supreme Court & Gay Marriage: “I believe the way forward is not the same old fight of picking sides. The question, instead, becomes: how do we move from the push for a US-based civil right for some, to the struggle for liberation for all?” Shay O’Reilly, LGBT Activists Look Beyond Marriage To A Bigger Gay Agenda. Laura Flanders, Take the Oath: A Critic of Marriage Gets Teary: “…if we care so much about loving and honoring and comforting and cherishing someone else, what if, as a society, we took that oath to one another?”